LMS 3.2 Switch port summary report data

[tim]

Hi Guys,

Quick question.

I am using the switch port summary report in Campus Manager quite happily, however I have a question with regards to the data and its frequency of acquisition. For example both Connected and Free ports are based on data that might change on the switch due to a user/laptop etc moving away from the port during the day. So the question is how often is this port data refreshed? If I run the Campus manager report once a month, does this mean that the number of connected and free ports is based on a poll of the switch at the time the report is run or is the port data refreshed evertime a UT acquisition is completed? If it is refreshed every time a UT acquisition is completed then is this done on a minor of major acquisition? and lastly if a UT acquisition is completed every 4 hours, how would a port show in the report, if it was sometimes connected to a user and sometimes not (in the case of a laptop for example).

I have reviewed the docs, but its a little unclear.

Thanks

[yjdabear]

It's best explained by starting reading from the "You can enable vmpsadmin debugging under Campus Manager" part in the following thread:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/642507

The roaming laptop tracking scenario was why Dynamic User Tracking was added in LMS 3.x, but it requires quite a bit of configuration on both ends:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/net_mgmt/ciscoworks_campus_manager/5.2/user/guide_pb/ut.html#wp1434393

[tim]

Thanks yjdabear,

So as I understand it then, everytime a full collection runs on either a data collection or major UT acquisition then I would see any user changes. However what does this mean for a switch port summary report?

In my example I am running an UT major acquisition every 4 hours and running a switch port summary report once a month. So in this example I have a user that is connected for 10 days of the month and disconnected for the rest. Would the report show this port as connected or free?

Thanks

[yjdabear · Accepted solution]

I think it boils down to the same answer to both of these questions: The Switch Port Summary Report is going to show the port status it finds during the latest polling cycle(s) (data collection and/or major acquisitions). It seems you want to do port capacity planning. If that's the case, what I did before IIRC was to configure Campus Manager's purging schedule to retain say 180 days of UT data. Then set up two Switch Port Reports, rather than a Switch Port Summary Report:

UserTracking:Switch Port Report-Reclaim Unused Up Access Ports

Switch Port Usage-Unused Up [e.g. 90 days]

UserTracking:Switch Port Report-Reclaim Unused Down Access Ports

Switch Port Usage-Unused Down [e.g. 180 days]

Looking at these two reports collectively would provide a pretty good picture of the ports utilization situation in the environment.

[tim]

Thanks yjdabear,

That makes some sense now, so in a nutshell the switch port summary report is not going to tell me which ports are really not in use regarding laptops for anything other than disabled ports, unless the relevant user is connected to the port at the time of the latest acquisition. So the three options I see for this are: -

1) Run the switch port summary report at peak connection time for each site - This would still miss a lot of users on holiday etc and give a false capacity report

2) Run the switch port summary port alongside the reclaim unused up and down ports - This will give me a better view of the network port usage

3) Configure Dynamic User Tracking and use this with both the switchport summary report and reclaim unused up and down ports - This would give me the best visibility of the network port usage.

You also mention IIRC? Could you expand on that for me.

Thanks for your help

[yjdabear]

Yes, you've summarized what LMS can do for this particular purpose nicely. Option 1's data was too inaccurate for me, so I didn't consider that a serious option. Option 3 requires lots of work on the network side that's outside of my control, so Option 2 was good enough all around for me.

IIRC is internet shorthand for "If I Remember (or Recall) Correctly".

[tim]

Thanks yjdabear,

Your help is really appreciated